The Van

It took some time and considerable discussion to finally decide upon a vehicle for the trip. First let me preface by saying that we have no intention to be hotel-dependent. That is, we will require not only an affordable means of getting around but also one of accommodations.

Brilliant Plan #1: At first we considered taking my Civic Sedan. On the highway I can get about 40 mpg with a passenger and our gear. The car is safe, reliable, economical, and convenient in the sense that I already own it, it’s already insured, and I know what to expect out of its performance. 
The hitch would be sleeping in those seats (difficult, I imagine, for anyone, let alone someone over 6’-0”). Even one night would at best yield minor discomfort and poor sleep-quality, and at worst, physical and psychological torture so obscene as to trigger the only rational response: a spiteful, murderous rampage.

Okay, so we thought to pack camping gear and each night find a place to set up camp and enjoy comparatively plush air mattresses, room enough overhead to sit and change clothing, and enough breathing room to feel comfortable. One problem with this approach, although it sounds lovely and relatively economical as I already have the gear we would require, campsites (legal ones, anyway) are not quite abundantly available in more densely populated areas and are certainly not truly cheap. Additionally, and what I would consider the most important factor, our patience with the routine of setting up and taking down camp each morning and night may grow so desperately thin, that we would convince each other that hotels were necessary.

Brilliant Plan #2: Use the still-economical civic to tow a trailer in which we could sleep each night. We researched this one pretty heavily. We fell on a couple conclusions that ultimately buried the idea. In order to preserve the major advantage of taking a small car, the fuel economy, the trailer would have to be designed for just such an application – not only aerodynamically efficient, but also very light weight. This left us with pretty much one option: a teardrop. 

Teardrop trailers are awesome. And after doing the math on the materials, if we were to build one, we would probably be able to sell the trailer when we were finished and make quite a bit of money from the whole deal. But that ended up being the demise; we’ve simply no time to construct such a trailer. Further, there’s still the chance that after having invested money and time that could be spent traveling, the trailer could wreck the Civic’s mileage so unacceptably that the advantage would disappear.

Brilliant Plan #3: A minivan; a machine that can be customized to accommodate two sleeping adults but still achieve at least decent fuel economy at 60 mph. Having had whimsical conversations with my oldest brother about the 1^st Gen Odysseys, outfitted to haul around a few 29er Mountain Bikes and a ****load of gear on top, plus three full-size adults in comfort, the choice seemed obvious. And as a matter of fact, after Marissa’s and my whole escapade is over, that is likely just what duty the van will see. 

So began our search for an affordable, acceptable-condition 1^st Gen Honda Odyssey. We searched for only a few weeks, and found an LX in Black Currant. A purple minivan… awesome. And we’ll still be taking the camping gear for National Parks and the like.

Some new tires, replacing the exhaust manifold, and giving it a fresh oil change is all it'll need and we'll be ready. Driving it back from to Toledo from Chicago on the Turnpike at around 15 degrees, I recorded 28.5 mpg. So great.


Next posting, I will be tackling coverage of removing the back seat, the bed install, some cleanup and work to be done to the van, and a bit of gear we'll need for the trip.

Adam